Shut-off valves are commonly used for compressed gases. However, there are several problems associated with known shut-off valves. For example, immediately after opening of the shut-off valve, the gas has a high speed. This may lead to particle impact ignition when the gas rapidly reaches non-pressurized areas as the gas may captive particles that, if they impact on some surface, may cause ignition as their kinetic energy is converted to heat.
Another problem which may arise is that adiabatic compression caused by the opening of the shut-off valve and gas entering non-pressurized areas may lead to increase in temperature of the gas for a moment. This increase in temperature may in some cases lead to the ignition of components. In particular, this is the case for components having a low auto-ignition temperature.
The above described problems particularly occur for shut-off valves used with highly oxidized gases, that is, gases having a higher share of oxygen than air, because higher oxygen content increase the probability of ignition.
There is thus a need for an improved shut-off valve for compressed gases.